Matilda: A laser range hazard assessment utility

A jointly-owned utility – the Military Advanced Technology Integrated Laser hazarD Assessment (MATILDA) system – is being developed under the auspices of a Memorandum of Understanding between the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK). This paper provides an update on progress in developing the MATILDA utility. The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence has had long experience in developing and applying probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) methods for air-to-ground laser training operations, but has lacked the opportunity to create an expert software-based utility to facilitate the hazard analysis process, particularly in respect of a generalised terrain. The United States Air Force wishes to develop a PRA-based hazard analysis technique for high energy laser applications, and would like to leverage the PRA modelling expertise of the UK. The initial MATILDA code development is based on the PRA ‘partition’ model for the UK Thermal Imaging Airborne Laser Designator (TIALD) system. The TIALD model ‘fault-free’ hazard analysis is geometrically similar to that utilised by the US Laser Range Management System (LRMS). However, the UK model contains an additional ‘fault’ hazard analysis component that is currently not mirrored within the US approach. User-specific configurations of the MATILDA utility will address the needs of the expert analyst and Range safety technician respectively. The MATILDA utility will provide an ideal environment for developing PRA hazard assessment models for a range of laser applications.